How Does Your Board Measure Up?

Want a quick and simple way to identify areas of strength and weakness on your board? I've been using this chart to help boards evaluate their health and functioning for the past several years. Answering the questions on the chart and adding up your score will put you on the path to a new and improved board of directors.

Boards change when the members themselves identify a need to do so. This chart is a guide by which your board can decide for itself what needs to change. More real progress results when board members can see for themselves how they measure up than when they are told what to do by the executive director or an outside consultant.

There is no magic formula to a high-functioning board, and you do not necessarily have serious problems if your board is not structured or organized as the items on this chart suggest. Nevertheless, the chart can help your board identify areas that it agrees need attention, development, and/or reorganization. The scoring gives you a way to compare how you're doing with what might be considered more or less ideal. On the other hand, if your score comes out quite low but you believe that the way your board is functioning works for you and gets the job done, then don't worry about it.

Using the chart:

1. Schedule a board meeting at which you can spend at least a couple of hours working with the chart, or make it one part of a longer board retreat.
2. Distribute a copy of the chart to each board member to fill out so that everyone has the opportunity to express their opinion about the strengths and weaknesses of the board.
3. Use the group's responses as a guide for the areas it most wants to work on now. If more than a couple of areas seem deficient, choose the top two or three that can be the focus of the board's attention for the next six months. There will always be things that need improvement, and you will make more progress biting off smaller rather than larger pieces at one time.

A few other thoughts about developing a strong and well-functioning board of directors:

1. Remember that board members are volunteers, with busy lives apart from the time they serve on the board. Progress may be slow, but as long as it is steady, change will happen.
2. The work of improving the board is not the responsibility of the executive director. The board chair, or another board member who is able to take leadership, is key to the success of any effort to strengthen the board. A process that is initiated and led by staff is less likely to be successful.
3. The work of developing a board is ongoing for the life of your organization. Though you will face different challenges at different stages, there is never a point at which you will have a "perfect" board. Like relationships, like families, like communities, the board is always evolving and changing. With luck, the challenges will not overwhelm or discourage you, but provide keys to new ways of moving forward.

So, try out the chart, don't take yourselves too seriously, and know that you're in this work for the long haul. Good luck!

Reprinted from the Grassroots Fundraising Journal, Volume 17, Number 4, © Chardon Press, 1998. Used with Permission.